AND EXPOUNDING THE CONSTITUTION, TREATIES WITH FOREIGN GOVERNMENTS
AND WITH INDIAN TRIBES, AND THE PUBLIC LAWS

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1856, by

ROBERT FARNHAM,

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District of Columbia.

VOLUME VII.

CONTAINING THE

OPINIONS

OF

HON. CALEB CUSHING,

OF MASSACHUSETTS.

FROM OCTOBER 9, 1854, TO JULY 9, 1856.

OPINIONS

OF

HON. CALEB CUSHING, OF MASSACHUSETTS:

APPOINTED MARCH 5, 1853.

UNEXPENDED BALANCES OF APPROPRIATIONS.

Under the acts of March 3d, 1795, May 1st, 1820, and August 31st, 1852, in general, a balance of appropriation remaining unexpended at the expiration of two years is carried to the "Surplus Fund," and can be withdrawn therefrom only by new appropriation,-except in the case of appropriations for objects to which a duration longer than two years is assigned by law; as to which, and especially expenditures in the War and Navy Departments, the specific appropriations remain in charge of the latter, until, on report therefrom of the object being consummated, the money is credited to the "Surplus Fund" at the Treasury Department.

In general, an appropriation or a balance thereof, made in any year for any
continuous contract or other service of the Government, may be applied to
the same service during the succeeding or any subsequent year, and does
not lapse into the "Surplus Fund" until the particular object be consum-
mated.
Conversely, whenever, in any given year, the appropriation for a particular
service proves deficient, a balance, remaining of the appropriation for the
same service in a previous year, may be drawn upon to supply the deficit;
or rather the balance of the preceding year commences the service of the
new year, and is expended before any question arises of the new appropria-
tion; and thus, at the end of each year, the true unexpended balance is only
what remains unexpended of that single year's appropriation.

ATTORNEY GENERAL'S OFFICE,
October 9, 1854.

SIR: I have received your communication of this date, and have duly considered the several questions which it presents. It appears that under the act of March 3d, 1847, entitled "An act providing for the building and equipment of four naval

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